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The ONE Person Who Can Give Your Blog Clarity and Increase Engagement

You want a mob of fanatical fans who eagerly check their inboxes for your latest post, right?

Fans who are actively engaged, leaving comments and sharing each post.

Fans who send you emails from time to time just to let you know that you’ve inspired them.

Fans who get so excited over your blog that they forward your opt-in link to their friends without even being asked.

(No, that doesn’t make you a big, ego-maniacal jerk-face. After all, you want people to get that excited about your stuff because you’ve genuinely helped them, right?)

So you sit down with a cup of coffee, determined to write the post.

The one that will go viral, generating buzz throughout the blogosphere.

The one that will reach all the people you want to speak to, making them go, “Oh wow, this chick knows what she’s talking about. I’m pretty sure if we met in real life we’d be friends because she just gets me.”

But…you’re drawing a blank.

What exactly should your message be? What should you write in order to get tons of comments? What kind of a brand identity do you need to cultivate in order to inspire tens, even hundreds of thousands of people to become your fanatical fans?

If you’re struggling with clarity over the direction of your blog, you’re probably missing one crucial element.

The good news is that you can get it in under an hour and it won’t cost you a cent.

What is it?

An imaginary friend.

That’s right, I’m telling you to dredge your imaginary friend out of childhood retirement and get his or her help in making your blog a raving success.

How can an imaginary friend help me find clarity?

You already know the importance of finding your niche and having focus.

When I first started my travel blog, this was how I defined my target audience:

“Someone in their late 20’s to early 30’s who doesn’t like their job and wants to travel more.”

According to LiveYourLegend.net (and a Deloitte’s Shift Index survey), 80% of people are dissatisfied with their jobs. 72% rank travel as more important than buying a house or a new car.

So, basically, my target audience was half the population.

If you are a “blogger’s blogger” you might define your target audience as:

“Someone who wants to become more successful at blogging.”

There are approximately 156 million blogs on the Internet. I don’t know the exact number of owners who want to be more successful, but suffice to say, not many people are starting a blog with the intent to be terrible at it.

In both cases, that’s a whole lot of people. In fact, it’s waaaayyyy too many people.

You might think that’s a good thing – after all, if you want 100,000 raving fans you need to speak to as many people as possible, right?

Wrong.

Being that vague is like hopping in a boat and heading out to sea with a map of the world as your only navigational tool. Hope you enjoy chatting with a soccer ball for the next 3 years.

The more people you try to speak to at once, the more diluted your message is going to be. And the more diluted your message is, the more ineffective it is.

Instead of thinking in terms of ‘target audience,’ try thinking of the ONE person that you exist to serve with your message.

You don’t need to be a lot of things to a lot of people. You just need to be insanely inspirational to one person. If you inspire enough of that one person, you will rise to the top of your niche.

So, let’s try again.

For a travel blog, I might say:

“Natalie. 27 years old. Elementary school teacher who enjoys teaching but hates the politics that come with the job. Recently dumped her jerk of a boyfriend. Dreams of traveling the world but doesn’t have a lot of money saved up. Environmentally-conscious. Loves working out but has a weakness for apple martinis.”

Doesn’t Natalie seem a lot more like a real person? Isn’t it much easier to come up with things to talk about with her?

For a blogger’s blog, we could go with:

“Pete. 36. Investment banker. Enjoys his work but doesn’t like the company he works for. Recently started a personal finance blog to help supplement his income when he found out his wife was pregnant again. Dreams of blogging full-time in order to spend more time with his family. Has the knowledge and technical skills but isn’t sure where to go from there.”

Isn’t it so much more fun to think about helping Pete than ‘person who wants to be a more successful blogger?’ When you don’t feel motivated, just think about the baby on the way. Pete needs you!

(In business class, we would refer to this as a ‘customer profile’ but that sounds SO dry and boring. I don’t like to think of my readers as mere customers; I like to think of them as friends.)

So from now on, don’t talk to your target audience, talk to your friend.

Think of what he/she is struggling with right now. How can you help them get through it? What are they dreaming of? How can you help make it a reality?

Won’t talking directly to one person alienate everyone else?

This is what scares a lot of people. They don’t want to ‘niche themselves’ because they’re afraid it will limit their prospects and make them less relatable.

If I only talk to one person, won’t that shut everyone else out?

Nope.

Let’s take a look at Facebook. When Facebook first came into existence, it was targeted towards college students. More specifically – ivy league college students.

For the first few years you needed an email address ending in .edu to even sign up. Instead of trying to market to as many people as possible, they actively excluded people from using their service.

Well…we all know how that story goes. Facebook exploded into a multi-billion dollar company, and these days everyone from grandparents to dogs have a profile.

In fact, it’s become so mainstream that it’s actually lost cachet among its target audience.

How about Apple? Who do you think their imaginary friend is?

22 year old, urban, hipster, tech-savvy, on-the-go. That’s probably what pops into your mind when you take a look at their advertising.

Are those the only people carrying around iPhones? Ummm, hardly!

Your ‘imaginary friend’ isn’t going to be the only person reading, commenting on and sharing your posts. (Actually, if your imaginary friend does start commenting, you might have bigger problems…)

They’re just the one you should be speaking to at all times in order to:

Stay consistent with your message and branding.

Come up with relevant, useful content for your readers.

Help you find and keep your voice as a writer.

When you’re clear on who you’re talking to, you’re going to attract other people who feel an affinity with that person.

Maybe they want to be – or not be – that person. Maybe they share a similar struggle. Maybe they admire what that person represents.

Those people are your readers. They are your advocates. They are your potential raving fans.

(In my case, most of my fans are already raving, but that’s a whole other story…)

I’ve been asked a few times why I wrote that post only for women – surely men can benefit from solo travel as well?

Of course they can. I actually had a number of men comment on it. And share it. I even had one guy email me to tell me he had forwarded it to his sisters who were nervous about traveling alone. Wow.

What might have seemed exclusive ended up being my most viewed/commented-on post to this day.

In fact, since I clearly defined the one person I was talking to, I went from 5-6 comments /post to 40-50 comments a post.

So how do I define this one person?

I thought you’d never ask. This is the fun part.

Think back to when you first started your blog. Or, when you first decided to transition from a personal blog to a purposeful blog. Who did you have in mind that you wanted to help?

If your answer is along the lines of, “I just wanted to dispense my general awesomeness to the world,” you’ve got some homework to do.

Here are a few questions to help you define your imaginary friend, because I’m nice like that:

Are they male or female?

Are they single, married, dating…?

Do they have kids? Pets? A cactus?

How old are they? (Pick an age, not an age range)

What’s their level of education? What’s their degree in (if they have one)?

Where do they work? Is this a career or just a job? Do they enjoy it or want to stab their eyeball out with a fork every morning?

What does their 5-year plan look like? Do they have one?

How would they define themselves?

What are their ‘vices’? Do they drink? Do they swear? Do they struggle with anxiety or depression?

What is their deepest desire, greatest dream, or most pressing issue?

What’s the number one thing holding them back or standing in the way of their dreams?

What does their typical day look like? What habits do they have? Which ones are helpful and which ones would they like to get rid of?

What do they like to read? What movies do they watch? What music do they listen to?

Where do they get their info from? Who do they trust?

What excites them so much that they forget to eat or sleep?

What do they find annoying? What sets off their BS detector?

What are their values? Spending more time with family? Traveling the world? Gaining financial freedom?

What’s their greatest fear?

Are they religious? Spiritual? An atheist?

Finally…what’s their name?

This may seem like a lot of work, but it doesn’t have to be.

My imaginary friend is really just a combination of myself from a few years ago and two of my closest friends who struggle with different aspects of job dissatisfaction.

Want to meet her?

Her name is Janey. She just turned 30 and is having an existential crisis over what she’s accomplished in her life so far. Single, no kids. Been through a few crappy relationships but has just started dating someone promising. Has a bachelor’s in political science and a job as an account rep for a financial company where she makes $38,000/year and feels undervalued. Thinks about going for a promotion, but is terrified that she’ll end up working there for the next 15 years if she gets it. Does yoga a few times a week, enjoys cooking, and occasionally splurges on semi-expensive wine that she drinks with her small, close group of friends when they blow off steam. Loves cheesy rom-coms. Desperately wishes for more freedom to spend time doing what she loves – being outdoors, riding horses and traveling. Feels unfulfilled at her job, but isn’t sure which path she should take in order to be happy.”

Whenever I write a post, I ask myself, “Would Janey like this? Does it help her? Inspire her? Brighten her day? Would she think I sound pretentious or full of crap?”

Sometimes if I’m lacking a live human sounding board I’ll even read my blog posts out loud with Janey in mind. She keeps me in check when I try to use snooty-sounding words like ubiquitous.

So how about you? Do you have your one person in mind when you write?

I would LOVE to hear about everyone else’s imaginary friends so I don’t feel like the only nerd here. 🙂

[avatar email=”msanders1313@gmail.com” size=”125″]About Mandie Sanders
Mandie is a writer, rebel and life coach-in-training. She is somewhat obsessed with lifestyle experiments, good books, and travel. You can follow her adventures at RamblingMandie.com or stalk her via Facebook or Twitter.

You did such an awesome job. I love how you just didn’t tell us to find our one reader, you showed us how.

(And the steps you outlined to define your reader were REALLY detailed. So much so… I would probably get carried away* if I tried using them. Biggest fear? Expired milk. What does he/she find annoying? Grocery stores which put the milk about to expire up front and “the good milk” way in the back. Single or married? Still single…still trying to find that special girl who grew up on a dairy farm.)

Take a deep breath…here comes the small novel. You inspired me once again!

I’ve been sitting here, staring at the keyboard, thinking about the, “Oh wow, this chick knows what she’s talking about.”

Am I drawing a blank?

Well, no actually….

I’m just kinda stuck on the thought of being a chick.
(…are my hips REALLY that wide?)

Now I have Chuck bouncing behind me, laughing his head off. “You neeeeed me….I told ya! You neeeeed me.”

Truth this Mandie, I’ve gone through this, but I’m always wondering who my audience is–because those who respond are so vastly different from what i started out with.

I think of ‘Pat’ (avoiding gender–though my heart always leans towards a woman). 20-ish. Smart. Clever even. Well read, but not a college degree. Pat loves a great story and is near obsessed with the creative process. Has had a very rough life with terrible tragedy after tragedy…and through it all, hangs on, because there’s a belief that there is something more in life. There has to be.

Pat wants to be noticed. Wants to be valuable. Pat wants to be more.

Pat looks for inspiration through entertainment–to avoid reality just enough to avoid pain…but she (see?) wants to find someone who inspires in a way that’s off the beaten path. Someone original, but open minded…with a huge, loving heart.

It’s not just the kind of person I want to connect to, Mandie…it’s who I want to be FOR them.

I want to be that person who always cares, who always reaches out and smiles–when no one else will.

What I have discovered in 10 years of blogging…is that I strive to be me. Those who need me, eventually find me.

Not sure if it’s because I’m terrible at focusing or marketing…or if this has all been a foundation formed for something bigger to come.

OH–before my brilliant mind forgets, there actually IS a device you can use for that Omniscience disability you suffer from. Gnome made, mind you–unstable inventions at best, BUT if you’re in the mood for a mental rush, it’s called a:

Konajokatientakaken

Roughly translated, they say it means “The Machine That Knows It All”.

…then again, we are talking about gnomes. They could have made this crap up just for fun.

I know exactly what you’re talking about with this post. It’s very important to know who you’re talking to when you create your blog posts. I’ve touched on something similar before regarding creating your perfect avatar. Once you know that, the whole process should be much easier indeed.

I like the question, “What’s their greatest fear?” That question alone can really help out any blogger write great content that actually helps their “imaginary friend”.

Truly a great job here, Mandie.

LOL “Sometimes if I’m lacking a live human sounding board I’ll even read my blog posts out loud with Janey in mind. She keeps me in check when I try to use snooty-sounding words like ubiquitous.” That’s funny. Good thing she keeps you in check with those type of words lol.

The ‘imaginary friend’ trick is one I use a lot when I get stuck and I’m not sure what to write about. I’m sure I’m not the first person to do this.

Actually, “customer profiling” was something that really stuck out to me in my business classes but when I’m blogging I can’t think of my readers as customers, so I modified the concept just a little. 🙂

Hi Mandie,
Thanks for this article. Losing focus on your target audience is really easy to do (at least, for me it is), so I think your approach makes a lot of sense. Having that specific of a target reader/audience seems like it would make it a little easier to keep that focus.

Kevin – great idea to invite Mandie. She did an awesome job making you look good!!!!!

Hi Mandie,

You absolutely nailed it in this article for me. You are so right… talk to one person at a time and one person only.

It’s interesting, the same principal applies in speaking. There may be a 1,000 in the audience but there is no way to speak broadly to all of them. Instead, speak to one idea, one problem and one person.

After a presentation it’s amazing how many people will ask “how did you know?”

I didn’t, but I listen to people and understand the problems they are going through. If one person is having a problem that needs to be addressed you can bet there are many more.

When we speak to broadly we dilute the message and end up speaking to know one.

I love your question about wanting to know if we know our target audience.

Of course I do, lol….

It’s businesses who lack clarity and focus and who struggle to understand how the internet can positively change their business forever.

It’s amazing that it doesn’t really matter to the age or size of business. I am working right now with a solopreneur who is just starting out and doesn’t have a lot of money and a Fortune 1000 company that can afford a $40,000 / 3 month contract.

A brilliant idea and can never be called a flight of fancy because while writing we usually don’t talk to a crowd but to one person and if we imagine our reader as our listener by attaching all the attributes you mentioned in this post; our communication will become more focused and result-oriented.

Also we can’t say one needs to be quite imaginative while following your wonderful tip. If a person does creative work in any field imagining a situation is not a heck of the task for him.

You have thought about this a lot. Actually I start understanding your post a lot better towards the end when you describe your target audience. There are so many Janeys that you will have enough readers and it is so easy to find a topic that she would be interested and you could write about easily. I thought I was trying to help people in my blog but defining my target audience will make my job a lot easier more than anything else. I like the idea that I write for the type of people I imagine would read my blog and the rest may come anyway.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading that. It kept my attention right to the end with those great ideas and engaging tone. I usually speed read, but not this time.

I’ve read and heard so much about creating the persona, and I get it. However, I tried to look at my past and present clients, and they seem to fall into two distinct groups. The group who are overwhelmed with their work, and want the tedious stuff done for them, and the group who want to implement new business ideas.

In most cases, the clients are disorganised anyway. But other than that, do you recommend that I create two profiles to target, or just continue to target the disorganised, as I have (sort of) done so far?

This is fantastic and it’s so fun to see you here on Kevin’s awesome blog! Talk about a match made in heaven.

Can I just say that I LOVE that you say jerk-face? I thought I was the only one that said that! Haha now I really do feel like we should be BFFs… except for for some reason I have no desire whatsoever to travel! Weird, I know. I guess I just like my house. =)

Anyway, that’s why I created the Mommy Blogger Academy, because the more bloggers I got to know, I started to form a concept of my target audience in my head based on the commonalities I found in my peers. That’s who I write for over there. Then over at my personal blog, BrittanyBullen.com, I just write stuff that I would want to read because… I do what I want! =) haha isn’t blogging the coolest?

I’m starting to think your whole two blogs thing is a good idea. Sometimes I just want to write what I want, too! Like a rant on how to stop annoying people on Twitter, or why leggings ARE pants and no one can tell me otherwise.

Of course, that’s why I have friends like Kevin who let me write on their blogs. Haha! (He might balk if I start to write about fashion, though…)

You’re living proof, by the way, that the “one reader” technique won’t alienate other readers. I am neither a mommy, or a mommy blogger, but I enjoy reading your blog.

Its great to read this post written by Mandie.:)
Though this is my first time that I am reading a post written by here but still there are some valuable points she has mentioned here.

You know Mandie there are many aspects which you need to keep in your mind while writing any blog post or just to configure the upcoming days for your blog. The main focus should be on your readers, their demands. You should know your audience as what they want from your blog?

As you have give an example of Apple which is a big brand in today’s era of technology. Bloggers should think like them to boost up online presence through their blog. Most of bloggers do mistakes as they don’t even have clear thoughts about their view as why they are blogging?
Thanks for writing this article and sharing with us.

You’re definitely right – as a blogger our focus should always be on our readers, but a lot of bloggers still have a hard time figuring out exactly what their readers want. They haven’t figured out exactly what their “why” is in blogging.

It took me quite a while to figure out why I was really blogging and what my purpose was.

Hopefully this little trick can help a few people get there faster than I did. 🙂

I am quite new to the blogging world ( but I have been in online marketing for a while) but the idea of writing posts always leaves me stumped.

I have a general idea of what I want to write about, but coming up with crystal clear idea can be a struggle.

From my own experience your points on finding how my audience defines themselves, what their deepest desires and goals are, their most pressing issues are, what sort of things hold them back, their positive and negative daily habits, who they trust and what can really exciting them are all incredibly useful triggers when trying to write an article that will resonate with them.

Those points alone are so important they all deserve articles of their own.

Most bloggers (including myself) forget about these sort of things when sitting down to write a post and that is a huge error.

I am going to print out your list and have it near my computer to constantly remind myself of how important this stuff really is, if you want to make a huge impact and get audience engagement and find your purpose.

I am going to use the list to create an “imaginary friend” for my next post and see if it improves the clarity of my writing.

Well said! I’m big on getting clear, and in truth, Blogging from Paradise took off because I always had a clear reader in mind. Before I publish a post I think about a person who wants to retire to a life of island hopping through smart blogging. I blog for them and for them alone, because blogging for others would dilute my message.

I dig your adding of details. Building an avatar adds precious details which makes people more human, or, our ideal readers more human. With that clarity, and with your increased intimacy, with your ideal reader, you’ll drill down your audience even more and will have few problems coming up with blog post ideas. I don’t lack for writer’s block and I publish daily. I’m not doing 2,500 words per post but with my features and eBooks I put out quite a bit of content.

Getting clear has been my great secret to creating. Having 1 audience in mind helps me serve the audience with more skill, and I find prospering ideas knocking on my mind’s door as I get clearer and clearer on my blog. Focus on 1 ideal reader and build your blog – from domain name, on down – around that 1 reader and that clarity will get folks chatting really quickly.

You know, I actually had you and Brittany in mind when I was writing this! You’re the perfect example of someone who knows EXACTLY who his target reader is, and like you say, it means that you never struggle for content or worry about clarity.

I’m still not anywhere near as prolific as you are, but I’m starting to turn out more and more content on a daily basis. 🙂

You’re also a great example of a blog that I enjoy reading although I’m not necessarily your target reader. I may not be the exact person you have in mind when you’re writing but I still find value in your content.

I know exactly what you mean, but I actually chose my target audience/customer avatar from several of the people (similar background/needs/demographics) emailing me because when my blog was starting, I was already getting attention from forum marketing groups. So that was actually a big help.

You did a great job coming up with a detailed customer avatar. I actually have pictures so that I write to just them.

You’re absolutely spot on, it sounds counterintuitive to talk to just one person, and will increase engagement and connection with many folks that can relate to me.

Getting detailed about who we’re offering help to is a critical step in marketing.

To answer your question, yes, I definitely have someone in mind when I prepare content for others…

Excellent job on drilling down how to get specific on finding a target audience, Mandie!

While it’s obvious to me who I’m targeting, I never really thought about writing my post to that specific individual. Definitely something to think about. I need to come up with a name for my new friend.